extprot Compact, efficient, extensible binary serialization format
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Python library Python binary Serialization binary serialization

extprot Description

Compact, efficient, extensible binary serialization format extprot is a compact, extensible and efficient binary serialization format.This is a python implementation of the 'extprot' serialization scheme, the details of which are descripted in detail at: http://eigenclass.org/R2/writings/extprot-extensible-protocols-introSimilar to Google's Protocol Buffers and Apache Thrift, extprot allows the definition of structured data "messages". Messages are essentially a set of typed key-value pairs that can be efficiently serialized to/from a compact binary format, and are defined in a language-neutral "protocol" file. Here's a simple example of an extprot message: message person = { id: int; name: string; emails: }Here the 'person' message contains three fields: 'id' is an integer, 'name' is a string, and 'emails' is a list of strings. Such protocol descriptions are compiled into a set of Python classes that can be manipulated using standard syntax and idioms. If the above protocol is recorded in the file "person.proto", here's a simple example of how it might be used: >>> extprot.import_protocol("person.proto",globals()) >>> p1 = person(1,"Guido") >>> print p1.emails # fields use a sensible default if possible [] >>> p1.emails.append("guido@python.org") >>> p1.emails.append(7) # all fields are dynamically typechecked Traceback (mosts recent call last): ... ValueError: not a valid String: 7 >>> print repr(p1.to_string()) 'x01x1fx03x00x02x03x05Guidox05x13x01x03x10guido@python.org' >>> print person.from_string(p1.to_string()).name 'Guido' >>>Extprot compares favourably to related serialization technologies:* powerful type system; strongly-typed tuples and lists, tagged disjoint unions, parametric polymorphism.* self-delimitng data; all serialized messages indicate their length, allowing easy streaming and skipping of messages.* self-describing data; the 'skeleton' of a message can be reconstructed without having the protocol definition.* compact binary format; comparable to protocol-buffers/thrift, but with some overhead due to self-delimiting nature.These features combine to make extprot strongly extensible, often allowing messages to maintain backward *and* forward compatibility across protocol extensions that include: adding fields to a message, adding elements to a tuple, adding cases to a disjoint union, and promoting a primitive type into a tuple, list or union. Requirements: · Python

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